Book reviews for - A Simple Act of Violence

So. After 600 pages, I lost count how many deaths, and a lot of plodding from place to place, nothing is resolved.

Detective Robert Miller investigates the murders of four women, apparently beaten and strangled by a brutal serial killer who leaves a weird signature behind. But nothing, of course, is as it seems, and as Miller delves deeper into the case, and encounters the mysterious John Robey, he begins to fear for both his life and his sanity.

There's a gripping story at the heart of this book, and some of the descriptions of the killings are truly creepy, but overall it reads like a first draft. A first draft, moreover, in need of a brutal edit.

Either Ellory has a bad memory or he thinks we do, because there's so much repetition in this book that at times it was in danger of being hurled across the room. Yes, I know that. Yes, you already told us that. Get on with the story already! The repetition often isn't even of meaningful points. Do we really need to be told twice that the purloined hairbrush has been wrapped up in a baggie and hidden in a locker? I don't think we even needed to be told that once, especially given that nothing at all comes of it. Despite all the angst attached. Despite all the times we're told how Detective Miller has crossed a line, and put his career in danger, and put his friend Marilyn's career in danger, that danger never materialises. Never exists.

And, oh dear, all the info-dumps about Nicaragua and the CIA and drug-smuggling, as if it's Great Secret Insider Info rather than common knowledge. Then the book throws away what credibility it had by tying anything and everything it can think of into some CIA super-plot. I'm surprised UFOs weren't mentioned. But if knowing that the CIA smuggle drugs to fund their operations is Great Secret Insider Info You Can Be Killed For, I'd better go bar the door.

Many a time I simply put this book down because I couldn't go on. The weight of repetition, of attaching huge significance to trivia, of explaining things again and again and again, got to me. There's some gems in this book, but you'll need to be an expert book-miner to find them.

Gah. Where's my red pencil.